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Decks relying on "That Grass Looks Greener" want much more than 40 cards

One deck archetype that wants to have more than 40 cards are "lawnmower" decks, named after the key card That Grass Looks Greener.

If you have more cards in your Deck than your opponent does: Send cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard so you have the same number of cards in the Deck as your opponent.

So if you have a 60 card deck and you play against an opponent that has a 40 card deck, you can expect to send around 20 cards to the graveyard. If your deck relies on archetypes that benefit from having cards in your graveyard (e.g. Zombie, Lightsworn, Infernoid), then that can put you at a huge advantage.

According to this Reddit post, decks based around "That Grass Looks Greener" (and decks designed to counter it by having 60 cards) were popular from February to May 2017 to the point where a number of top-level decks were 60 cards. Konami made the card Limited in the TCG to discourage this (although it's still Unlimited in the OCG). However, a lot of people seem to view it as a fad deck that would have lost its appeal over time even without a ban.

The only thing I can think of potentially wanting more cards, off the top of my head, is lightsworn. Since that archetype is a self mill, more cards in deck lessens the chance of decking yourself out. I don't think this is a really good reason personally, the idea of the deck is high speed for the high potential cost, and more cards will slow it down, but it is the only thing I can think of that would make you want such a big deck.

Some people run more than 40 simply for fun. Casual players may not mind more cards in their decks or sometimes because it's more difficult to play with more cards, some players actually do it for the challege.

I think the other answer have valid points; I would like to condense those with my point of view.

Therefore, why would I want any more?

If you are playing competitively, you don't. That is, if you are planning to participate on tournaments or other form of official competition having 40 cards is the best you can have. This is because, as you already noticed, you have higher chances of pulling out the cards you need.

We can see that 1/40 = 0.025, while 1/60 = 0.01666, so definitely you have better chances if you keep your deck as lean as possible. And beyond the fact that you have higher chances of pulling any card, you also have higher chances of pulling the card you actually need the moment you need it (like that Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy that nasty Vanity's Emptiness). Having more than 40 cards only reduces the chances of pulling the one needed, and can make your deck run much slower... well, unless you believe in the Heart of Cards like the Pharaoh did, lol.

Evidence that back this up is the fact that most competitive decks focus on a 40-card build (and if they could use less I am sure they would). It is true that some competitive decks have used more cards; there are cases where some decks ran on a aprox. 42-card build.

There was even one case of a Mermail build that had 53 cards (and even won a YCS), and it worked mainly because of the hability to search themselves that Mermail decks have (mostly because Atlantean Dragoons). But still, this was in 2013 where the rulings and format was way different (slower), and even though it won a YCS I think it was not a brilliant idea to include 53 cards in it (I mean, it's not like we are playing Commander in MTG).

So, it seems clear that it is better to have 40 cards in your deck whenever possible. I would like to complement this with another trend that happened in YGO a while ago.

I am sure we have all seen this card at some point, and wondered "Whoa, why would I give my Opponent 1000 LP just for one card"... Well we think this now because LP have become more than just a metric in the game, and have become a resource (several cards require LP as cost for activation, like Soul Charge, and others).

So with this in mind 1000 LP for one card means 1000 extra LP your opponent can spend for an extra monster with Soul Charge... not so great bargain now isn't it?

However, in the past, when LP were not as resourceful as they are now, one could see the benefit on giving "just" 1000 LP to your opponent for a card that could well make him lose more than 1000 LP. This is sometimes referred as the Upstart Theory.

This goes beyond the fact that LP's were not as useful as they are now. If we do our math again, if we include 3 copies of Upstart Goblin we are technically making our deck a 37-card build. Again, 1/37 = 0.027027 which gives us greater chances than before of pulling the card we seek. In competitive games, a simple 0.002 difference can be the decisive factor between winning and losing.

We can see the tactical power Upstart Goblin can have in a deck. That was one of the main reasons why the card got limited to 1 copy. If we go a bit further, we can understand also why cards like Pot of Greed and Graceful Charity are forbidden, as they drastically changed the probability ratios of deck builds.

tl;dr:You don't want more than 40 cards in your deck if you plan to play competitively. If it were possible to have less than 40 cards it would be even more recommended.

Now, if you don't mind about competitive play, feel free to include as many cards as you want up to 60, but expect a slower gameplay and more dead-draws.

38 card; those three copies simply condense into 1, they don't just vanish. Also, it is again that you have a brilliant answer, but the only problem is, you've gone into parts which doesn't answer my question. Note the "So, it seems clear that it is better to have 4..." part
– VortexYTMar 14 '18 at 16:22

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@VortexYT No he's right at 37, the cards have a 0 card count value to the deck since they immediately replace themselves. Even if you draw all three in a row turn draws first, first draws the second, second draws the third, third draws a real card, meaning 4 cards were removed from the deck.
– AndrewMar 14 '18 at 17:05

And also, the point is having three copies of a card in the deck boosts chances of drawing it. Very useful in FTKs
– VortexYTMar 14 '18 at 17:11

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@VortexYT The three copies of upstart are not counted, the card that replaces the upstarts are. in the example it's upstart, upstart, upstart, card, your draw for turn is effectively the last card, with the three upstarts being non cards as far as deck size is concerned.
– AndrewMar 14 '18 at 17:29

Some decks may want more than 40 because it relies on special summoning from the deck or searching the deck for specific cards. I play a Noble Knight deck and I put in 60 cards because it doesn't matter what the chance of getting specific cards is when I can just search for the card I want. I also play a level deck for fun and it is hard to fit all the things needed for such a thing in 40 cards, so instead I play 60.

I don't know the archetype, how do you search your deck for the card you want? I would guess you need to get specific cards first to enable your searching engine, and less cards would get you that engine more reliably, wouldn't it?
– Andrew2 days ago